Minion groups vs grenades ? and vs mass damage

By tenchi2a, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

OK not sure if this has been answered yet but what happens when a minion group gets hit by a grenade and the blast effect is activated.

1. do they count as one character for the blast effect or do the count as the number of minions.

A. if the first does soak work against both the damage and the blast or is it still added once.

B. if the 2nd does soak come in for each blast effect or just the initial damage.

2.on the effects of damage the rule state that you have to pass the wound threshold by one to defeat a opponent.

when a group takes damage does it take threshold +1 damage for each minion or just to finish off the group

exc. minion group of 5 stormtroopers is their

A. total wound threshold 26 (5+5+5+5+5+1)

B. total wound threshold 30 (6+6+6+6+6)

Crits and minion groups

1. does a minion group still take regular damage on a roll where they get crited.

say I crit, do I

A. kill one doing the damage that the minion can take because of the crit and ignore the damage of the roll

B.kill one doing the damage that the minion can take because of the crit and apply the damage of the roll to the rest of the group

2. when a minion group is hit by a crit does it still count as one opponent or can each minion be hit by a separate crit on a good roll.

exc. Jedi with crit 1 lightsaber hits minion group with 3 advantages does the attack.

A. kill one minion and just do damage to the rest of the group or ignore based on the answer to 1

B. kill as many minion as I get crits then apply damage to the rest of the group or ignore based on the answer to 1

Soak works both against the original damage and blast. When you through a grenade the original target (if hit) takes the normal damage, anyone who is engaged takes blast. And yes that counts from minions, grenades are definitely minion slaughterers.

If you miss but trigger blast the above is still true but the original target takes blast and not the original dmg.

With regards to defeating minions they are defeated when you exceed the wound threshold. So if attacking a group of 5 with 5 wounds each onr is defeated at 6, 11, 16, 21 and finally 26 wounds.

Soak works both against the original damage and blast. When you through a grenade the original target (if hit) takes the normal damage, anyone who is engaged takes blast. And yes that counts from minions, grenades are definitely minion slaughterers.

If you miss but trigger blast the above is still true but the original target takes blast and not the original dmg.

With regards to defeating minions they are defeated when you exceed the wound threshold. So if attacking a group of 5 with 5 wounds each onr is defeated at 6, 11, 16, 21 and finally 26 wounds.

not sure I'm following you on the first answer, so the blast hit every minion but do they all get there soak against it for every instance of blast or just the first blast effect and the group takes full damage from the rest of the blast effects.

on the 2nd so only the first minion gets extra wounds the rest are defeated on there wound threshold ?

I know the grenade question has been asked before, and I'm pretty sure the crit question has been asked as well. IIRC, the answer to both was that the GM should do what they find to be reasonable. Personally, my solutions would be as follows:

Minions and grenades

A PC successfully lands a grenade near a group of minions, all in an engagement. Blast damage is applied to all the minions that would be hit under the rules, and reduced by soak in all cases. The remaining damage is totaled and applied against the group, then the appropriate number of minions are defeated using the typical rules.

I don't interpret the rules to require minions to be in an engagement at all times (I let them spread out), so if the blast would only hit one individual minion, that's the only damage I would apply to a group. If that would *still* be enough to kill more than one minion, though, I would rule that it still kills more than one minion, explained by some narrative hand-waving, e.g. lucky shrapnel, a light fixture loosen by the blast falls on them, or something similar.

Minions and crits

A PC dumps a bunch of advantage into scoring 'multiple' crits on a group of minions (I know that's not quite how it works, I'll explain below). For every additional activation, an additional minion is defeated. Additional damage from the attack is applied against whoever is left.

The rules state you can't score multiple crits from a single attack. Instead, you add +10 to the crit roll for every additional activation of the crit rating. I would be fine killing an defeating an additional minion to every +10 applied to the roll. This would allow weapons with the Vicious quality to typically kill multiple minions as well. And I'm fine with that.

Basically, minions are disposable. I don't mind letting the PCs killing them quick.

The most important thing, I'd say, is to be consistent. I generally try to be as consistent as I reasonably can be, so the players understand what to expect.

Edited by LethalDose

The rules state you can't score multiple crits from a single attack. Instead, you add +10 to the crit roll for every additional activation of the crit rating. I would be fine killing an defeating an additional minion to every +10 applied to the roll. This would allow weapons with the Vicious quality to typically kill multiple minions as well. And I'm fine with that.

I absolutely do this, assuming the positioning works and makes sense in concert with the method of attack. If everybody is clustered together, it's an easy sell for guns, sabers, grenades, etc. In the case of the grenade, a single crit with multiple activations within the blast radius would absolutely apply damage across multiple minions.

The rules state you can't score multiple crits from a single attack. Instead, you add +10 to the crit roll for every additional activation of the crit rating. I would be fine killing an defeating an additional minion to every +10 applied to the roll. This would allow weapons with the Vicious quality to typically kill multiple minions as well. And I'm fine with that.

I absolutely do this, assuming the positioning works and makes sense in concert with the method of attack. If everybody is clustered together, it's an easy sell for guns, sabers, grenades, etc. In the case of the grenade, a single crit with multiple activations within the blast radius would absolutely apply damage across multiple minions.

Positioning isn't even that hard to account for narratively. Sabers can deflect stray bolts, throw and recover a 'saber with the force, projectiles can ricochet, a character throws a hidden dagger that wasnt listed on their sheet, or even kick a stone and hit them in the face.

wheeeee narrative...

Blast and Minions

Question asked by Darth Pseudonym :

Should a group of minions be treated as a group of individuals who happen to share one wound pool, or as a single entity?
That is to say, if a blast goes off in the middle of a group of minions
-- should each minion, individually, take the blast damage, soak it, and apply the remainder to their shared pool, or
-- does the group as a whole get hit by the blast, take the damage, soak it once, and then apply the remainder (and if so, then does the group being the primary target exclude the group from being affected by the blast)?
Or is there some other methodology?

Answered by Sam Stewart:
The first option would be more thematically appropriate. That being said, if the minions were particularly spread out (if you had a group of four with two each behind two separate barricades, for example), I'd rule that some of the minions couldn't be hit by the blast damage. It does make grenades quite effective against minion groups; but that's sort of the idea in any case.

OK not sure if this has been answered yet but what happens when a minion group gets hit by a grenade and the blast effect is activated.

The initial attack occures as normal. When Blast is activated you apply a number of hits equal to the rest of the group (assuming the group is engaged with each other, which they usually will be.).

So I attack a squad of 4 stormtroopers with a standard frag grenade (Damage 8, blast 6) And net one success and 2 advantage. I do one hit at 9 damage (4 after Soak), activate blast, and score 3 more hits at 7 damage each (2 each after soak). Total wounds applied to the group after soak: 10. Stormtrooper armor is decent protection against shrapnel...

.on the effects of damage the rule state that you have to pass the wound threshold by one to defeat a opponent.

when a group takes damage does it take threshold +1 damage for each minion or just to finish off the group

Yes. Total WT for a group of 5 troopers (with a WT of 5 each) would be 25. You remove one trooper for every 6 wounds the group takes. The "6th" wound still rolls over to the next guy if there is one though.

Crits and minion groups

1. does a minion group still take regular damage on a roll where they get crited.

Yes. Crits just remove a group member from play outright, there is not damage calculation. So normal damage from the attack would still apply to any remaining group members. If possible a Crit should remove a single "healthy" group member, not finish off an already wounded one.

2. when a minion group is hit by a crit does it still count as one opponent or can each minion be hit by a separate crit on a good roll.

exc. Jedi with crit 1 lightsaber hits minion group with 3 advantages does the attack.

You can only Crit once per hit you inflict. So the question is kinda moot in the example given.

If the Jedi were using a double bladed saber and had 3 Triumph, he could use One triumph to activate a crit, the second to activate linked 1, and then the final to crit again with the linked hit.

Edited by Ghostofman

2. when a minion group is hit by a crit does it still count as one opponent or can each minion be hit by a separate crit on a good roll.

exc. Jedi with crit 1 lightsaber hits minion group with 3 advantages does the attack.

You can only Crit once per hit you inflict. So the question is kinda moot in the example given.

If the Jedi were using a double bladed saber and had 3 Triumph, he could use One triumph to activate a crit, the second to activate linked 1, and then the final to crit again with the linked hit.

I believe the rule is " a character can only suffer from one crit"

so the question becomes like the bast rule is a minion group a character or a group of characters in this instance.

on this rule they go out of their way to say the character can't be hit by more then and not that the attack can do only one.

which is the reason for the question.

Edited by tenchi2a

I believe the rule is " a character can only suffer from one crit"

so the question becomes like the bast rule is a minion group a character or a group of characters in this instance.

on this rule they go out of their way to say the character can't be hit by more then and not that the attack can do only one.

which is the reason for the question.

The user can spend that many advantage to inflict ONE Critical Injury on the target, in addition to regular effects and damage. Remember, a Critical Injury can only be triggered upon a successful hit that deals damage that exceeds the target’s soak value. For more information on Critical Injuries, see page 223

Edited by syrath

I believe the rule is " a character can only suffer from one crit"

For the most part, it's one critical injury per hit , not per attack or per character: "A Critical Injury can only be triggered on a successful hit that deals damage that exceeds the target's soak value" (p 158, EotE Core)

Though you could argue there's some ambiguity: "The user can spend [Adv equal to CR] to inflict one Critical Injury on the target" (p 205, EotE Core)

So it depending on your interpretation it's as once per hit or once per target. If you choose the former, you could inflict as many critical hits as you can score hits (via autofire, linked, and two weapon fighting). And if you choose the latter, decide if a group of minions is a single target.

Multiple Critical Rolls with Autofire

Asked by 2P51:

Can you roll multiple critical hits with a single attack, if the attack lands multiple hits, ie, you get 3 hits on an auto fire attack and theoretically have enough advantages for 3 critical hit results.

Answered by Sam Stewart:

Criticals are generated on a "per hit" basis. So if you've got multiple hits, you can have multiple crits, just one per hit.

Multiple Critical Rolls with Autofire

Asked by 2P51:

Can you roll multiple critical hits with a single attack, if the attack lands multiple hits, ie, you get 3 hits on an auto fire attack and theoretically have enough advantages for 3 critical hit results.

Answered by Sam Stewart:

Criticals are generated on a "per hit" basis. So if you've got multiple hits, you can have multiple crits, just one per hit.

yeah finally founded it hidden in the weapons section under the critical description. which seems to be the only place it is stated in the book. seems to me it would have been better placed in the combat section but who I'm I to say lol

Finally found it on page 165 on F & D core

In addition, a character can only generate one Critical roll per hit on a target. However, if the roll generates enough advantag to trigger the critical rating of the weapon multiple times, the character can choose to add + 10 to the Critical Injury roll for each trigger after the first. More on Critical Injuries can be found on page 225.

Finally found it on page 165 on F & D core

In addition, a character can only generate one Critical roll per hit on a target. However, if the roll generates enough advantag to trigger the critical rating of the weapon multiple times, the character can choose to add + 10 to the Critical Injury roll for each trigger after the first. More on Critical Injuries can be found on page 225.

yeah as I said I finally founded it hidden in the weapons section under the critical description.

where I can understand this vs a character/rival/nemeses, they still get one of the effect of multiple crits from the +10 on the roll per crit activated, and minions don't.

and since a combat roll is technical multiple attack over that round,and a minion group is not one character I don't see why you could not score multiple crits on a minion group.

But thats just my 2 cents

as they say its my game I'll just run it the way that feels right, but ty for the RAW on the subject.

I allow multiple crits on a group from a single Blast if there's sufficient Advantages since each subject is essentially taking a separate 'hit' from the Blast effect.